Slash frowned, kissing Axl's forehead. He had to practically drag the redhead out of the hospital after Duff walked in to see Izzy, because in those two days the rhythm guitarist spent in dreamland, the singer was panicking and overstressed on his condition, thus forgetting to care for himself and leaving all the work to our beloved fur-ball.

"Izzy's going to be fine, he's strong… and Duff's taking care of him… tomorrow you go back and check on him, right?" Slash stroked the smaller man's hair, speaking softly as Axl clung to him. He knew Axl was emotionally unstable, and with Izzy that bad over something they should have noticed from the beginning, he was probably torturing himself in his mind for not noticing while other part of him found someone else to put the blame on, so the pain could maybe go away.

"I should have… I should've noticed, he's… he's my best friend, I just let it slip through my fingers, I should have… done something, noticed, known there was… something wrong…" The redhead whimpered back after a while, making Slash sigh softly and nuzzle his face into Axl's hair.

"It's not your fault, none of us noticed. We all should pay more attention to him, but since he's always been silent and retired…" The guitarist pulled him closer, closing his eyes and tracing small, imaginary circles on Axl's back with his fingers.

"Still…" Axl sighed, relaxing into the touch and letting his worries slip back into his mind instead of letting them fall from his lips. Slowly, he took in Slash's words, but it wasn't that easy to convince him…

Meanwhile, Steven was worried sick – literally – about Izzy. You know when a child gets so worried about his mother's sickness that he ends up getting sick from that, too? Well, that was our drummer's state now, in bed with a bottle of vodka and a chocolate bar, as well as some pills to cure his ever-returning headache. He was buried down to the nose in blankets, shifting restlessly whenever he was awake and staring at the door, waiting for news.

No one but himself seemed to notice that, though, since Slash was too busy with Axl, and Duff didn't leave Izzy's side. Their manager didn't really care as long as no one was dead, and that is that.

Speaking of Duff and Izzy, who were still in the hospital, things seemed calmer by now. Well, in a way. The rhythm guitarist had already explained what happened, and his worries and just how badly that was messing with his mind, practically breaking down in front of Duff and spilling everything out, until not a single spot of his mind was unspoken.

No need to mention, his energy was completely wasted since his body was still weak, even if they were making him eat at the hospital and also giving him medicines of all kinds and vitamins to replace whatever he lost in that time of not eating. Now, as they just lay there in silence, his thoughts were on himself.

Those thoughts wandered around his mind, making him ask himself who he was now, and yesterday, and the day before. He also wondered who he'd be the next day, or hour, if something would change. Before, he felt completely ignored and invisible, now he felt a strong tie with Duff and his friendship with Axl suddenly seemed strong again – even if they hadn't got to talk about things yet. The others also seemed closer now, not like he could never reach them or be seen. Things changed, he supposed, every minute. You can't be the same you of two minutes again, no matter how hard you try.

"… Thanks…" He whispered, smiling again at the bassist who was still holding him. A soft nod came from the other, and a hum in response.

"I'll always be there for you, if anything happens you can talk to me." Duff smiled back, glad things seemed to be getting better. Now he'd have to watch over Izzy and make sure he was eating and sleeping properly once he was out of the hospital, but still try not to be sticking to him too much as to bother him. Well, that would probably be a challenge, but at least the guitarist would get better and they wouldn't let that happen again… hopefully.